In addition to its hallucination-inducing appearance, the psychedelic carpet at Founders Memorial Library now has spawned a poetry contest.

NIU students are eligible to pen a poem about the first level’s brown-, orange- and yellow-striped floor covering.

Submissions are due at 4 p.m. Friday and the winner will receive a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble, 2439 Sycamore Road.

Kay Shelton, program administrative assistant in the library’s department of Rare Books and Special Collections, hatched the idea.

“For years, students have made jokes about the carpet on the first floor,” she said. “I thought this would be a way to get their creativity channeled, and this being National Poetry Month, it seemed like a good fit.”

She hopes the contest will recognize the importance of creativity.

“One does not have to be an English major to write a poem,” Shelton said. “Anybody who wants to write a poem can write a poem.”

The authors of the top 25 selections will participate in a poetry reading at 7 p.m. on May 3 at Barnes and Noble. The bookstore will sponsor a raffle among the poets and the winner will receive a gift certificate.

The carpet, made by Mohawk and named “Ghiradelli Square,” was installed in 1975.

“This university seems too bland sometimes, and the carpet is something people remember,” said Glen Gildemeister, director of NIU’s Regional History Center. “It’s like a public sculpture. It’s guaranteed to provoke at least something beyond yawning, which is good.”

Library Consultants Incorporated worked with NIU’s then-associate director of libraries, Lester Smith, to pick the carpet’s colors and coordinate them with the colors of library equipment. Financial limitations, time constraints, miscommunication and other factors eventually led to the carpet’s selection.

“It nauseates some people, makes them dizzy,” Gildemeister said. “When people come in for job interviews, they sort of stand there, stunned.”

Shelton, who graduated from NIU in 1994, first noticed the unique flooring after seeing an early 1990s Northern Star cartoon in which the carpet induced dizziness among students. Since then, the carpet’s legendary status has grown.

“A lot of library people from around the state of Illinois all ask about the carpet,” Shelton said. “When groups of people come in for a tour, I overhear parents say, ‘Oh, they must’ve gotten a good deal on that carpet.'”

NIU faculty and staff also may enter the contest, but only NIU students may win the raffle prize.

For information, call Shelton at 753-8091 or visit www.niulib.niu.edu/rbsc/uglycarpet.html.